Heavens Gate is infamous at the movie which bankrupted United Artists and reined in the excesses of the 70s auteurs.

Director Michael Cimino, hot off the Oscar-winning success of The Deer Hunter was given free rein and budget to bring to life this sprawling Western, loosely telling the story of the 1892 Johnson County Wars between settlers and land barons. 

Cimino delivered a 325 minute (!) print, and initially refused to trim it down. Reviews were scathing, the movie was withrawn and re-cut, and various versions have popped up since. (Steven Soderbergh even had a go, releasing an unauthorised 108 min “butcher’s cut” on his website).

The story of the making of Heavens Gate is in many ways more entertaining than the movie itself, and made for a great book, Final Cut, written by a production insider. Cimino’s career never recovered, and to this day the movie is held up as an example of self-indulgent excess. That said, its actually not too bad a movie, if you are prepared to embrace the bum-numbing run-time.

This is the French grande poster featuring stars Kris Kristofferson, Isabelle Huppert and Christopher Walken. It is available for sale here.